The second area that plays a very big role in my life is music. It really does... during the day, I listen to it several times, for several hours a day, I mean, what's it called? Classical music – because it appeals to me the most and gives me the most satisfaction. But... well, I listen to it for several hours but I have to say that I rarely listen to it carefully because as Lutosławski once said to someone, 'You are listening... but your hear nothing'. This music is playing and I'm listening but I hear nothing because I can't imagine the structure of this, I'm not too concerned about this, about the exact meaning of music, it is a passion that brings me relief, consolation and it helps me, too. I often have it playing in the background, particularly Baroque music, and then if I want to really listen to something, I lie down and put on the piece I'm interested in. So also in my poetry there are a number of poems devoted to musicians and to music. Regarding contemporary music, I unfortunately belong to those people who derive little satisfaction from listening to it, meaning, I can never fully grasp it which isn't the result of my prejudice, because I'm very much in favour of new things appearing in the arts, but I'm a little intrigued how this will happen. Will classical music move into the background – I'm sure it won't – while those composers who are writing music today will occupy the foreground?

Born to a Polish father and a Russian mother, Julia Hartwig (1921-2017) was a Polish poet, essayist, translator and author of children's books. She studied at the University of Warsaw, the Catholic University in Lublin and the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Czesław Miłosz called her 'the grande dame of Polish poetry'. Julia Hartwig was one of the few poets in Poland who made masterly use of poetic prose. She translated poems by Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Max Jacob, Cendrars and Supervielle, and published monographs on Apollinaire and Gerard de Nerval. She also translated from English, and published a large anthology of American poetry which she co-edited in 1992 with her late husband, the poet Artur Międzyrzecki.

Film director and documentary maker, Andrzej Wolski has made around 40 films since 1982 for French television, the BBC, TVP and other TV networks. He specializes in portraits and in historical films. Films that he has directed or written the screenplay for include Kultura, which he co-directed with Agnieszka Holland, and KOR which presents the history of the Worker’s Defence Committee as told by its members. Andrzej Wolski has received many awards for his work, including the UNESCO Grand Prix at the Festival du Film d’Art.